14 months!

The boys showcasing their awesome Beatles shirts (gift from dad)

Caleb thinks its a modern day tragedy not to like The Beatles

We had a lazy four day weekend. We had no real plans which is nice every once in a while. It was so great to have Phil off from work, we had a lot of good quality family time : ) Phil's cousin David's had us over for a very yummy dinner one night, he and his family live about 40minutes away from us. Thanks to his obsession with finding and chopping up fire wood he keeps us rolling in wood to heat our house. He also keeps the boys rolling in hot wheels cars, we probably have close to a hundred cars already! The boys are still a little young for them, they'll get unlimited access to them as soon as they stop putting everything in their mouths. So in case anyone is wanting to get the boys a gift I think hot wheels tracks or accessories might be a good one : P

At Davids' house

Don't get your fingers nipped!

Baby Updates

Eli's right top tooth next to the two that were already there broke through sometime last week. Eli has a total of 5 chompers and his brothers both have 6 chompers.

The boys have really impressed me this last couple of months, they used to have lousy appetites but they have really turned it around. I'd say they are ALL good eaters, Caleb can really put it away, Thomas is very good at not being phased by a new texture or taste, and Eli still needs some work but he's a much better eater than he used to be.

I think the boys really changed this last month, they are looking so different, more like boys less like babies.

Taking a walk

First order of business at the play house is take down all the books from shelf

The boys cute girly friend from the hall : )

Caleb

Cut their hair? Why would I want to do that?!

Caleb's round head prevents awesome mohawks, they always turn into droopy curls

T

The boys have been pushing their cars sideways. They learned that this is what happens when you use your car in unintended purposes. The same day Caleb did a complete 360 degree flip over his car he was in such shock he didn't even cry.

Tear It Down!

O.C.M.S. heard that Thomas could do a mean two-step stomp so they hired him for their "Tear It Down" music video : )

The boys have really been into 'copying' lately, if I blow raspberries they do to, if I stomp my foot they do to. This made teaching them to actually brush their teeth and not just play with the tooth brush a whole lot easier!

Last Fall Day?

Even though it still looks like fall the air was quite chilly. In Portland when you get a break from the rain you have to seize the moment and run out side!

T

E

C

Adorable Peruvian hats in care of mama Elda, previously seen in awkward Family Portraits post

the neighborhood cat Fuzzy, apparently he's a terror to the other neighborhood cats =^..^=

Even with a bugary nose Thomas is still such a handsome boy, he calls this look "blue steal" cause he'll steal your heart with it : )

What do you notice about this picture? The boys are all upright and playing! When the boys first learned to walk I thought how great, I can bring them to the play ground and let them go wild. WRONG! When I put the first boy down onto the tan bark it was like "OMG I'm in a sea of things I can put in my mouth even though I shouldn't." So we've been confined to the swings and asphalt otherwise every little thing they saw would go right into their mouths. Just the other day I saw Eli trying to lick up a tiny scrap off the floor! It grossed me out so much that I mopped the floor the first chance I got. I cannot wait for this stage to be over! This last day at the park was the first sign that this stage may be over sometime soon. I did have to scoop out some twigs a couple of times from Eli's mouth but that's all, I'm so happy they actually played : )

We need mittens!

By the time we made it back home the babies had claws for hands, they were frozen stiff. They wouldn't keep their hands in their pockets for more than a few seconds (well Thomas made it for a few minutes, see pic above). How did I over look this detail, we need mittens! What kind should I get and from where? Seriously can any one give me some info. I don't imagine they will want to keep them on so I need ones that have some 'trickery' so they will stay on. I also think leggings(leg warmers?) would be a good idea so I can slip them on without having to undress them. Oh yeah and I don't want to pay more than $6 for a pair of gloves, I have to get three pairs!

Baby Sign Language

Eli chillaxing in the laundry basket, silly boy!

What a punk rocker, Eli already requested a Rancid t-shirt

Eli and Thomas (looking like a rat with his silly teeth)

BFF's

After almond butter and jelly sandwiches, so messy!

Baby sign language isn't something I was ever really interested in or something that I thought I would do. This is until I started to realize that screaming and huffing and puffing isn't the best way to communicate to mom that baby wants another gold fish cracker. Since bilingual kids take a little longer to start speaking I figured it would be a good idea if we had a few key signs so we could communicate a little better. The book says to teach them only one or two signs at a time so as not to confuse them (anyone out there with experience, is this really true?). For the last two weeks we've been trying to learn 'more' and 'no more'. I've seen some signs that they are learning the sign for 'more' but nothing too convincing. We'll see, the book says that my patience will be rewarded, too bad I'm not very patient.

About two weeks ago all three of the boys, seemingly overnight, developed stranger anxiety! I think they have a healthy dose of it now. They get over it pretty quickly they just need to be distracted if I hand them over to someone, or they need just a couple of minutes being around someone new and then they stop being shy.

Caleb cut his top right tooth next to the two he already has in the top front, it's opposite to Thomas, thereby adding another piece of the puzzle to my mirror twins theory. Thomas also cut his top right tooth so now he's got four teeth up top.

Eli now gives kisses, when I ask him for a "besito" he gets tight lipped and comes close, so cute! I'm trying to get the other two to do it but they haven't caught on yet. Eli is definitely the lover of the bunch, he loves to snuggle and gives hugs all the time just because he likes to. I even caught him trying to hug his brothers but they were having none of it! Poor Eli, he just wanted a hug.

Sometimes when I write things it helps me realize why I haven't tried something in a while. A few posts back I wrote about how Eli still needed to be rocked to sleep but only for nap time. Writing about this made me realize I hadn't tried it in a while to see if this was still true. So I tried it and he wen't right to sleep all on his own. So now ALL boys go down for nap and bed time without a fuss : )

Last weekend we went to our annual Circuit Assembly and two really random things happened there. I met the scrub tech from my delivery. She was very nice and I told her the boys were thankful she was such a good scrub tech. She assured me that they left nothing behind in me : ) Apparently she's the one that set up the cell saver in case I needed it and boy did we come close! That thing could have saved my life. Good thing we didn't have to go there : )

Second random thing that happened is that I may have found a long lost relative! Besides sharing a last name both our families are from an obscure little town. We still need to figure out exactly how we are related but we both have one key relative in common. So crazy!

The scrub tech from the boys' delivery, holding my second born

My long lost relative! Don't we totally look like family? It's the pronounced eyebrows, if I didn't pluck my eyebrows they'd look like his! hehehe

We realized that Caleb is obsessed with the song book, thinking back even when he was only like 6 months old he'd sometimes get a hold of it at meetings and when we'd take it away he would always freak out. At a moment of weakness we gave it to him hoping he wouldn't destroy it. While he didn't destroy it he did mangle it quite a bit but he played with it for hours, walked with it, and even fell asleep with it in his arms. What a silly kid!

Fun With Cars

The boys love the cars their Tia Aracely gave them. If I start playing with one boy and his car the other two quickly run to a car and wait their turn to be pushed around. We have a lot of fun playing bumper cars : )

Got to keep it short today, the babies are all sick, again. We've always held if not come close to exceeding the average of 1 to 2 colds a month. Phil and I managed to not catch the last one but not sure if we'll be that lucky with this one. Even though it sucks I can weather a cold no problem, only once did I really feel like I couldn't do it. Once I had battled a fever all night and I almost cried when Phil said he was still going to work in the morning because he had something really important to do. Turned out ok once I got rid of the fever, it's hard to do anything when you have body aches and delirium. Anyways, this one is bad but not as bad as the cold we got in California. Poor Thomas had it rough yesterday his cough wouldn't let him sleep and just wanted to lay in my arms all day. Caleb was obviously crankier and wheezing lightly. Eli is sick too but it's hardly slowed him down.

Thomas cut a new tooth about a week ago, it's his top left tooth next the two he already has up there. The other two boys are close behind but they haven't cut through yet.

Eli drinks whole milk from a bottle now! The first day he drank 3oz, the next day only 2oz hmmm?, then the next day 4oz, then 5oz yay! The boy just could never stomach formula but I'm relieved that he'll drink regular milk now. I nurse 5 times a day but I'm thinking about cutting back to 4 times a day now that Eli can have a bottle. Not sure when I'll do it but I'll report about it when I do.

Got more stuff to write about but I'll save it for later, got sick boys to look after : (

Funny Video of Eli, he's Phantom eating and steeling cheerios from his brother, goofy kid!

Against All Odds

Look at these cute faces!

Eli

Caleb

Thomas

What good little boys, they brush their teeth before going to bed!

What are the odds?

From time to time I think about how unusual it is to not only have triplets but to have the most unusual type of triplets. Sometimes I try to wrap my head around it but it makes my brain almost explode so I have to stop thinking about it.

I have a degree in biology so I'm very interested in the molecular mechanism of how this happens and why. I've tried to find reasons as to why a single fertilized egg decides to split for no apparent reason. I scoured PubMed and have found nothing (anyone out there know of a good scientific paper?). There are a few very unfounded 'theories' of why this happens but no real evidence to back them up.

So lets take look at my odds:

Who is most likely to have a multiple birth?

-If you conceived using some sort of fertility aid: Nope

-If you, your mother or grandmother was a fraternal multiple: Nope

-If you've already had a set of fraternal multiples: Nope again

-If you're Nigerian: last time I checked No

-If you are overweight and/or tall: I'm short and skinny

Who is least likely to have a multiple birth?

-If you are Hispanic or Asian: Yes, I'm Hispanic

-If you are a younger woman at conception: Yes, I was 28 yrs old when I got pregnant, I think that counts as young?

-If you live in Hawaii: No, ok you got me there

Of course none of the above matters when it comes to identical twins or higher. It is a completely spontaneous or random event and the odds are the same across the entire population. The question "do twins run in your family" does not apply to me and unfortunately I have to answer this question ALL THE TIME! So let's see how likely it is to naturally conceive multiples, in order of most frequent:

twins in general: 1 in 90 or 1.1%

identical twins: 1 in 285 or .35%

triplets in general: 1 in 7921 or .013%

conjoined twins: 1 in 75,000 or .0013%

identical triplets: it's so rare that nobody knows! I've read anywhere from 1 in 200,000 to 1 in 2million or .0005% to .00005% chance

That's right people, we were more likely to conceive conjoined twins than identical triplets!

Evolution of the Schedule

Snuggle bugs, a little tv never hurt anyone

Check out Thomas' cool slippers, he's all ready for basketball season!

Let's see if that ever happens : (

Why oh why do I have two safety gates up? Phil is busy chasing a squirrel out of our house back there. He'd already jumped over one safety gate so two should do the trick! Nice to say the kamakazi squirrel made it out alive.

Is it easier now then when they were little? I have a hard time answering this question. When they were little it was easy because all they did was eat and sleep. It was hard because they had to eat around the clock. It's easy now because they pretty much sleep through the night and we get 7-8hrs of sleep without really skipping a day anymore. It's hard now because I only have 12hrs to feed babies three square meals, two snacks, 5 milk feedings, read to them, play with them and do errands with them (yes I do errands with babies in tow now). It certainly feels easier now than it did before but maybe it's just that I'm better at it?

It's hard to believe that less than 9 months ago we were sleeping in shifts and getting up in the middle of the night to feed, change and put babies back to sleep. I sometimes kind of miss being up at some crazy hour feeding babies and watching John and Kate Plus Eight or some random documentary. I liked it much more when we stopped sleeping in shifts and Phil and I would wake up together once at night so we could quickly feed everyone while watching an episode of something. Good memories but glad it's done with : )

Life is really good now. It feels so good to put everyone down to bed at 7pm and know that no one is going to wake up while Phil and I eat dinner or try to relax.

I knew getting down to one nap a day would be awesome. Last week was jam packed and uneventful at the same time, but it made me feel a little bit like super mom. I did something productive each day of the week. Here is a run down:

Monday: went to Costco

Thank you Costco for your double seater shopping carts. I threw the third boy into basket to play with the merchandise I was buying. The boys did very well for about 30min so I just need to know what I need and keep it short.

Tuesday: Took the boys to the co-op play house, they so LOVE it there : )

Wednesday: Went to the grocery store for some items I forgot to get when I went grocery shopping. And stopped at the pharmacy to get my flu shot.

Thursday: gave the boys a bath

It would have gone a lot smoother if the bathroom had been baby proofed but at least I now know I can do it on my own and not completely exhaust myself. The boys are still in their bath seats and am wondering how much longer I can keep them in them? It is a much more controlled environment when they are in the bath seats and I can only imagine total chaos without them. Phil has since baby proofed the bathroom so we are good to go for now.

Oh yeah and I cooked and had company over : )

Friday: Loaded up the boys in the Joovy Caboose and walked to Rite Aid to pick up some items.

I felt great going there but on the way back I realized there is a slight grade so I was huffing and puffing all the way home. Good exercise though!

Of course my back was killing me by the time the weekend arrived from getting the babies in and out of the car by myself. I hope it's true, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Got to build up those muscles to keep up the pace : )

So Before I forget! Here is how our schedule has evolved:

Newborn - 2mo

We kept the NICU schedule when we brought the babies home 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm, 2am, 5am eight Milk Feedings, around the clock. We brought them home only drinking 40ml or just over an ounce of milk, how cute!. Every three hours we'd make bottles, change diapers, feed, burp and put back to sleep. I'd then pump, after this I'd have about 1hr to do something productive like eat, shower, laundry, cuddle babies, etc.

2mo-4mo

We kept everything the same only this time, since we noticed babies could sleep longer at night, we began to feed them every 4hrs from 8pm-8am. At around 4 months I phased out pumping all together (thank God! seriously, nursing is sooo much more pleasant than being attached to an awkward piece of plastic).

4mo-5mo

Tried feeding on demand, it was awesome for about a month because babies would sometimes go really long stretches napping (like 4-5hrs during the day). Then they reverted back to their NICU schedule eating every three hours, so I started keeping a schedule again but following it loosely. We played around with feeding on demand or on a schedule at night then realized the schedule was a must at this point in order for us to get a decent amount of sleep but at this time we only fed once between 11pm and 6am. This was also about the time we stopped sleeping in shifts.

6mo-7mo

Started solids with one meal a day then increased to two meals a day, 3 naps a day. Started feeding on demand at night again, it was easier now since the babies would fall asleep right after nursing.

6am Milk feeding #1 (all nurse, no bottles)
9am Milk feeding #2 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by nap#1
10:30/11am Solids
12pm Milk feeding #3 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by nap #2
3pm Milk feeding #4 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by nap #3
5pm Solids
8pm Milk feeding #5 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by bedtime

8mo-11mo

5 milk feedings a day, 3 solids a day, and 2 naps a day. One baby started sleeping through the night at 8mo (this was Caleb, then flip flopped to Thomas).

7am Milk feeding #1 (all nurse no bottles)
8:30am Solids
10am Milk feeding #2 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by nap time#1
1pm Milk feeding #3 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle)
3pm Nap time
4pm Milk feeding #4 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle)
5pm Solids
8pm Milk feeding #5 (last baby to nurse also gets a bottle) followed by bedtime

12mo+ (now)

5 milk feedings a day, 3 square meals a day, one nap. At 1year I stopped nursing all three at every milk feeding. Now I nurse two and give the third baby a bottle of whole milk. Two babies sleep through the night, Eli still wants to nurse once through the night (no big deal since he nurses for three minutes and goes back to sleep). And without any effort what so ever on our part, all boys go to bed fully awake and without any crying they fall asleep. Best of all, no long drawn out bedtime routine with baths, story time and all those shenanigans. Just diaper, milk, and goodnight, we're done in 15-20 minutes. Thomas and Caleb also do this for nap time but Eli still needs to be rocked to sleep, oh well it's still so awesome!

7am Upon waking up, Milk feeding #1 (no bottles everyone nurses)
8:30am Breakfast + story time
10:30/11am Milk feeding #2 (two nurse, one bottle) followed by nap time (I clean, shower or whatever needs to get done!)
1:30pm Upon waking up Milk feeding #3(two nurse, one bottle)
2:00pm Lunch + story time
3-5pm My window of opportunity: when I do errands, take a walk, give boys a bath, or whatever
5:00pm Milk feeding #4 (two nurse, one bottle)
6pm Dinner
7pm Milk feeding #5 (two nurse, one bottle) followed by bedtime

Oh Crap! moment #2-4

Are they all boys?

I get this question a lot, not because my boys look ambiguous since I think they've always looked like manly boys, but because it's a lot to take in at first glance. My usual response is 'yes they are identical triplet boys' which sometimes diverts the next question "are they natural?" But that only works sometimes, when I hear identical the first thing that comes into my mind is 'spontaneous.' I guess not everyone eats, breaths, and sleeps identical triplets like we do : )

Anyways, we went to a coffee shop that had a little kids play room and we just couldn't resist dressing the boys up in girly costumes. I think Thomas takes the cake in the tutu! Hope this doesn't offend any one but this is the 21st century, we shouldn't believe in gender roles, right? : P

Pops eating his brownie with tutu man

I think Eli gets the joke

Oh Crap! moment #2

Phil finds a perfectly intact rubber band in Caleb's poop!

Oh Crap! moment #3

I hear a rattling noise. I look over and Eli is running away with my pill case. I see three pills on the ground so I run and scoop out the fourth one from his mouth. He had sucked off the pink outer coating of my prenatal vitamin. The boys can reach the outer rim of the table about an inch into it. Eli managed to grab the place mat were my pill case was sitting on and pull it off the table. Needless to say, my vitamin case now lives somewhere else.

Oh Crap! moment #4

I brought out a Bumbo that I was going to donate to the play area we are members of. We were going the next day and the babies were enjoying playing with it so I just left it out for them. This is how I found Thomas:

He used the Bumbo to climb onto the chest and grab a glass candle holder. This isn't the first time climbing has gotten Thomas into trouble. I was glad to donate the Bumbo.

Don Elias, the vest screamed 'slick back my hair'